It’s almost springtime, which means it’s time for the season’s best toys. Toy Insider Associate Editor Maddie Michalik stopped by City Pulse 24 in Toronto to talk about the hottest toys of the spring. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below, and for our complete rundown of the best gifts for the season, check out our spring and summer gift guide.


BRIGHT LIGHTS SOCCER BALL (VTECH)

  • Kick up some fun with this lovable and huggable soft soccer ball! Left or right, up or down, roll the Bright Lights Soccer Ball all around to hear music and sounds and listen to the friendly ball encourage playtime.
  • This brightly colored soccer ball shares encouraging phrases and teaches about colors and sportsmanship.
  • Kids can press the happy light-up face button to hear playful phrases and three songs that introduce opposites and numbers.
  • They can also kick, pass or shake the ball to activate the motion sensor and hear fun sounds and music, or touch the soft crinkly hands and give the ball a hug.
  • Age: 6-36 months
  • MSRP: CAD $19.99
  • Available: Walmart, Toys “R” Us, Amazon, London Drugs, Indigo

9” BARNYARD FRIENDS CUTIES (WICKED COOL TOYS)

  • For Spring 2018, the all-new Barnyard Friends Cuties are soft, cuddly and dressed as everyone’s favorite farm animals, including a cow, chicken, pig, bunny, puppy, and lamb.
  • Each Cutie has its own name, is numbered and retired for enhanced collectability.
  • Cuties are wearing a snuggly onesie with a removable hood and fresh baby powder scent! Little ones will love to collect them all!
  • Age: 18 months+
  • MSRP: CAD $19.99
  • Available: Canadian Tire

FLUSH FORCE FILTHY 5 PACK MASTER PACK (SPIN MASTER)

  • What mutant monsters are packed into your bowl? Flush the bowl and see which collectible creepy characters come up!
  • Flush Force Master Packs are available in Number Two Packs, Filthy Five Packs, and Bizarre Bathroom Eight Packs. They come with a grimy toilet bowl and a number of Flushies, tiny collectible creatures.
  • Experience flush-and-reveal technology! Fill the toilet’s tank with water and shake, shake shake! If the water turns green, you have a rare Clogger! If it turns purple, you have a super rare Unflushable!
  • Each Flushy belongs to its own group and has a special finish. You may get squishy Squirmin Vermin, color-changing Grimy Grubs, or unflushable Putrid Parts!
  • It’s always a surprise to see who’s lurking inside! With 150 characters to collect, including rare and super rare Flushies, you never know who’s waiting to climb out and attack!
  • Age: 4+
  • MSRP: CAD $4.99 for Number 2 Pack / $7.99 for Filthy 5 Pack / $14.99 for Bizarre Bathroom 8 Pack
  • Available: Mass retailers

FLUSH FORCE COLLECT A BOWL (SPIN MASTER)

  • Send your Flushies straight down the toilet with the Collect-A-Bowl! It’s the grimy home your Flushies deserve!
  • The Collect-A-Bowl comes with four exclusive Foul Floater Flushies! Start collecting all 150 mutant creatures and stash some inside your toilet! The Collect-A-Bowl can store 50+ Flushies.
  • This toilet doesn’t just look gross – it sounds gross too! Hit the handle and fill the air with the sound of hilarious farts and flushes!
  • Age: 4+
  • MSRP: CAD $19.99
  • Available: Mass retailers

FINGERLING MINIS (WOWWEE)

  • Fingerlings Minis are the latest addition to the Fingerlings family and they’re the cutest pencil toppers ever!
  • Each blind bag comes with a “mystery” mini Monkey, Unicorn, or Sloth. But they don’t all have the same status! Will yours be rated as popular, rare, exotic, or ultra-rare?
  • Collect them all and challenge your friends!
  • Bonus: Each pack comes with a mix & match bracelet and tail charm. Collect them all!
  • Age: 5+
  • MSRP: CAD $3.99 for single bling bag / $9.99 for 3-pack
  • Available: Mass retailers

PIKMI POPS PUSHMI UPS (MOOSE TOYS)

  • Pikmi Pops PushMi Ups are big push up pop vessels filled with cute mini-plushies inspired by icy cool patterns and scents!
  • Each PushMi Up includes one scented plush, one surprise message, one dangler string and one collector’s guide.
  • Age: 5+
  • MSRP: CAD $7.99
  • Available: Mass retailers

REAL COOKING PRINCESS CAKES DELUXE BAKING SET (SKYROCKET)

  • Bake and decorate an elegant treat worthy of royalty. The Real Cooking Princess Cakes Deluxe Baking Set makes it easy with the tools, cake mix and step-by-step instructions you need. Add your own fresh eggs, butter and milk.
  • Create perfectly proportioned cakes, tailor-made for two stunning princess cake toppers. Use the set’s simple utensils to dress your princesses in tasty fondant frills and sparkly sprinkles. Like everything else in the Real Cooking world, the Princess Cakes Deluxe Baking Set is Real Food, Real Easy.
  • Age: 6+
  • MSRP: CAD $39.99
  • Available: Walmart Canada

YO-YO CLASSIC AND THE YO-YO PRO (TCG)

  • Both feature precision-balanced units with polished wooden axle to facilitate all of the traditional tricks, like “walk the dog” and “The Creeper” as well as the more advanced “Rock the Baby” and “Hop the Fence”, and more!
  • Age: 6+
  • MSRP: CAD $4.97
  • Available: Walmart Canada

IMPULSE SCIENCE OOZE LABS (THAMES & KOSMOS)

  • Ooze Labs are fun and simple science experiments in big chunky plastic test tubes!
  • Each Ooze Lab tube contains a safe material that is both fun to play with and chemically interesting.
  • Available in Sunshine Slime, Glitter Slime, Magnetic Slime, Hot Ice Crystals, Magic Sand, Hypercolor Slime, and Glow-in-the-Dark Slime.
  • Age: 7+
  • MSRP: CAD $6.50 each
  • Available: Indigo, Mastermind

About the author

Bill Reese

Bill Reese

Bill Reese is Business Operations Manager at Adventure Media & Events, where he's worked since 2014. A former editor at Playbill and graduate of SUNY–Purchase, he spends most weekends rooting for the New York Red Bulls pro soccer team and making subway systems out of Brio trains with his little boy Jonah.

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